Electrical connectors – With stress relieving means for conductor to terminal joint – Curved conductor path
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-26
2001-11-27
Paumen, Gary (Department: 2833)
Electrical connectors
With stress relieving means for conductor to terminal joint
Curved conductor path
C439S492000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06322388
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an electrical connector used in an electric appliance and having a pin connector and a cable connector fitted with each other, and more particularly to an electrical connector effectively reduced in height.
A hitherto used electrical connector will be explained by referring to
FIG. 5
showing a cable connector
94
in perspective view and
FIG. 6
illustrating a socket connector
12
with a cable
18
and a cover
16
and a conventional strain-relief
92
. The cable connector
94
is detachably fitted with a pin connector
30
(refer to
FIG. 1
) to form the electrical connector. As shown in
FIG. 5
, the cable connector
94
includes the strain-relief
92
, the cable
18
, the cover
16
, and the socket connector
12
including socket contacts
68
held and fixed in a housing
14
(refer to FIG.
4
).
As shown in
FIG. 6
, the cable
18
is bent 180 degrees or folded onto the cover
16
and the strain-relief
92
is then mounted in the direction shown by an arrow D onto the cable
18
to fix the cable
18
to the cover
18
. Such a fixation of the cable
18
by the strain-relief
92
serves to prevent the piercing connection between conductors of the cable
18
and U-shaped slits
70
of the socket contacts
68
(refer to
FIG. 4
) from being subjected to forces when, for whatever reason, the cable
18
is twisted. The conventional cable connector shown in
FIG. 5
has a height (H) of the order of 19.6 mm.
As described above, in order to avoid the stress concentration at the piercing connections of the socket contacts
68
of the cable connector
94
, the cable
18
is folded 180 degrees onto the cover
16
and the strain-relief
92
is mounted thereon to rigidly fix the cable
18
, so that the thus assembled cable connector could not comply with the imposed requirement for the reduction in height of an electrical connector which is effective to install it in a narrower space in an electric appliance. In the exemplary cable connector
94
shown in
FIG. 5
, the height (H) could not be less than 18 mm. Moreover, after the cable connector has been once fitted with the pin connector, it is almost impossible to remove the cable connector from the pin connector by means of fingers or even a jig, owing to the narrow space in which the connector has been located in an electrical appliance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved electrical connector capable of preventing piercing connection portions of socket contacts in a cable connector from being subjected to forces caused by a cable when being twisted and can comply with the imposed requirement for reduction in height of the cable connector.
It is another object of the invention to provide an electrical connector whose cable connector can be easily removed from the pin connector by means of a simple tool in a narrow space in an electric appliance in which the electrical connector is installed.
In order to accomplish the objects of the invention, in an electrical connector including a pin connector and a cable connector detachably fitted with each other, said cable connector being composed of a cable, socket contacts to be connected to conductors of said cable, a housing for holding and fixing said socket contacts therein, a cover mounted onto said housing to cover it and urging said cable against said socket contacts, and a strain-relief mounted onto said housing to cover said cover and embracing said cable with said cover therebetween, and said pin connector being composed of pin contacts to be fitted with said socket contacts, and a block for holding and fixing said pin contacts therein, according to the invention said strain-relief consists of a main body and side portions located at both the ends of said main body, and further said main body of the strain-relief has an upper surface substantially lower than upper surfaces of said side portions by the thickness of said cable, and the upper surfaces of said side portions are substantially flush with the upper surface of said cover when the strain-relief has been mounted on said housing. In practice, “substantially flush with” is the state that the upper surfaces of the side portions are lower than the upper surface of the cover by a value of the order of 0 to 0.5 mm.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each of the side portions of the strain-relief has a substantially L-shaped cross-section and is formed with a slit extending therethrough in its height direction in the proximity where the side portion is connected to the main body and is further formed with a groove extending therethrough away from the slit in the lengthwise direction of the side portion, thereby providing elasticity to the side portions of the strain-relief in the horizontal and vertical directions. Such an elasticity in the horizontal and vertical directions facilitates to mount the strain-relief onto the socket connector.
In another embodiment of the invention, there are provided spaces between the strain-relief of the cable connector and the block of the pin connector and there is provided removing means made of a plate piece by bending it into a U-shape, whose engaging portions are engageable with the spaces, respectively, thereby enabling the cable connector to be removed.
Preferably, each of the side portions of the strain-relief is provided with a projection extending downwardly to form a protrusion tapered downwardly, forming a space with a part of the side surface of the cover for receiving a string for removing the cable connector, and each of the side portions is provided at its free end with an L-shaped extension adapted to engage a shoulder provided on the cover. With this arrangement, the cable connector is readily removed by the use of the string and the strain-relief is securely prevented from being removed away from the remaining parts of the cable connector in removing the whole cable connector from an electric appliance.
In a further embodiment of the invention, there is provided a removing lever pivotally connected to side surfaces of the strain-relief so as to be rotatable between substantially horizontal and vertical positions about pins provided on the side surfaces. This construction makes it possible to remove the cable connector installed in a narrower space in an electric appliance.
The subject features of the invention described above bring about the following significant effects.
(1) As the need for folding a cable onto the cover of a cable connector is eliminated according to the invention, the height of the cable connector becomes less than 18 mm, thereby enabling the height to be remarkably less than those of the prior art.
(2) The electrical connector according to the invention has a construction to prevent the U-shaped slits of the socket contacts from being subjected to forces when the cable is unintentionally twisted, notwithstanding the elimination of the construction folding a cable onto the cover of a cable connector.
(3) According to the invention, the main body of the strain-relief has an upper surface substantially lower than upper surfaces of the side portions of the strain-relief by the thickness of the cable, and the upper surfaces of the side portions are substantially flush with the upper surface of the cover when the strain-relief has been mounted on the housing. With this construction, the height of the cable connector becomes as little as 14.2 mm which is 5.4 mm less than those of the prior art cable connector.
(4) According to the invention, each of the side portions of the strain-relief has a substantially L-shaped cross-section and is formed with a slit extending therethrough in its height direction in the proximity where the side portion is connected to the main body and is further formed with a groove extending therethrough away from the slit in the lengthwise direction of the side portion. With such a construction, the strain-relief can be easily mounted onto the housing of the cable connector with the aid of the elasticity provided by the slits and g
Akio Yamada
Manabu Hayakawa
Takaharu Kouda
Baker & Botts LLP
DDK Ltd.
Gilman Alexander
Paumen Gary
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